Almost every temple in Japan has a few stray cats hanging around and the big Gokokuji temple is not an exception, harboring a small army of them. Obviously the word “stray” might be misnomer, these cats look very well fed!

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I took these photos while visiting Enoshima, a small island right of the Pacific Ocean coast in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture. Enoshima is superbly photogenic and I had enough photos just relating to animals that I thought I should make a proper post of it. The are tobi, squirrels, cats, dogs and fish! The tobi are the most majestic birds you are likely to see in the wild in Japan and they are everywhere. Normally when going birdwatching you need a really long lens for your camera but these tobi are so close that most average cameras should be able to get decent photos of them! Enjoy!

I couldn’t help myself sneaking a photo of of this cat sleeping on the shoulder of one of the many people out to enjoy the huge Sanja Matsuri about a month ago. He seemed to be snoozing just well up there until “somebody” woke him up by getting too close with a noisy camera. I hope the men and women carrying the omikoshi didn’t mind not being the center of the attention for a few moments!

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In the seaside city of Numazu (沼津市) on the eastern end of Shizuoka prefecture a hot day a couple of summers ago I saw this handsome but scruffy looking cat loitering about in a cemetery. I think he wasn’t too happy about being my model but I did my best to get his best angle! Going grave spotting in Japan is really hard work as the name on the gravestone is completely different from the name the person had when they were alive. If the grave isn’t especially marked out it will be very hard to find the grave you are looking for. Just in case you ever felt like trying to find Japanese celebrities last resting places!